European Championships | 14 Sep 2017

Europe’s best come together through table tennis in Luxembourg

Photo: Rémy Gros ITTF

Press Release

 

Action for the LIEBHERR 2017 ITTF European Table Tennis Championships started today, Wednesday 13th September, at the d’Coque venue in Luxembourg, with the best table tennis teams from every corner of Europe fighting for glory.

 

The first day can often be edgy at these important Championships, as players find their rhythm and groove. But it wash;t long before the fireworks started.

The reigning European Women's Team Champions from two years ago in Ekaterinburg, Germany, had a battle with Sweden. Germany was almost caught by Sweden’s furious start but they managed to recover to take victory grab the opening match victory 3:1.

Luxembourg created a big upset by beating no. 7 seeds Czech Republic. Once again legendary NI Xia Lian played a key role in the host nation success, but with the win over the European’s no. 24, experienced Iveta VACENOVSKA, inspired Sarah DE NUTTE proved she is ready to take on Europe's best in front of the home crowd.

Austria overcame Ukraine 3:1. Sofia POLCANOVA was drawn to position no. one in her team. LIU Jia started very good against Tetyana BILENKO; she was very confident and secured opening game win.

 

In the Men's event, Germany showed real intent with a convincing win over Spain. Ruwen FILUS beat Alvaro ROBLES in four games, but duels Dimitrij OVTCHAROV vs. Carlos MACHADO and Patrick FRANZISKA vs. Jesus CANTERO concluded in straight games.

 

The Slovak team, who were 25th in 2015, caused the upset of the day by overcoming the reigning champions, Austria. Despite a 2-0 match lead, Team Slovakia staged an incredible come-back to record the win in impressive style 3-2.

 

Portugal accounted for Slovenia in straight matches with former European champions Marcos FREITAS, Joao MONTEIRO and Tiago APOLONIA prevailing against Darko JORGIC, Bojan TOKIC and Deni KOZUL.

 

Greece inflicted pain on the host nation supporters with a 3-0 straight matches victory, where Panagiotis GIONIS overcame Gilles MICHELY, Konstantinos PAPAGEORGIOU prevailed against Eric GLOD, and Anastasios RINIOTIS beat Luka MLADENOVIC. The host nation is up again first thing tomorrow at 10:00am.

 

Day 2 Thursday will see the conclusion of the group stage, with Quarter Finals to follow on Friday.

 

If you can’t be here, you can catch the action on Eurosport (schedule below) and on ETTU TV. Additional tournament information can be found here, and information on remaining tickets here.

 

You can follow the live scoring and match scores at ettu.org, and keep up-to-date with us on social media, Facebook (European Table Tennis Union), Twitter (@ETTU_Ttennis), and Instagram (ettu_official).

 

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